Nord Electro 3 Is Coming

Improvements across the board 17/11/08

If you've been watching any live bands on TV recently (particularly in the UK), then you cant have failed to see that the Nord Electro taking the electro-mechanical sound duties in many cases. It seem that it has just become quite the standard for the touring band.
Fans of the Nord Electro, will be pleased to learn the new Nord Electro 3 is now in production offering these new features over the previous version:

Load any sample from the Nord Sample library
Users can add virtually any sound they want to the Nord Electro 3. Sounds can be loaded from the Mellotron Library or any other instrument or sound from the extensive Nord Sample Library, the same as the Nord Wave uses. Users are even able to create their own Sample Instruments using the Nord Wave Manager and then use these in the Nord Electro 3.

Exquisite new pianos
The Electro 3 will use the same sample format as the acknowledged Nord Stage, to take full advantage of the Nord Piano Library's multitude of velocity layers, pedal-down samples and extremely high quality samples with unprecedented expressiveness. Any current or future piano that is available for the Stage family will also automatically be available to the Nord Electro 3.

Increased memory capacity - 8 times the size of the original Electro
The Nord Electro 3 has a memory for pianos and samples of 256 MB and can it can store 128 programs.

Second generation organ emulation
The organ section is directly descending from the award winning Nord C1 Combo Organ with its fabulous vintage sounds from the B3, Farfisa and Vox-type models. Each and every individual sound creating component and even the artifacts of the original instruments have been faithfully reproduced in the Electro 3.

Brand new effect section
The Nord Electro 3 is equipped with a great selection of high quality effects including a lush sounding reverb with five different algorithms. There is also a selection of tremolo, panning, wah-wah, phaser, flanger and chorus effects.

New amps, compressor and EQ
User can sculpt their final sound by choosing from a selection of three amplifier simulations that can add any amount of grit and distortion from gentle to manic levels. A three-band EQ with sweepable mid-range and a compressor can be added to the final stage of the audio path.

Enhanced Rotary speaker emulator
The rotary speaker emulator also originates from the Nord C1 Combo Organ, with its acclaimed sound quality. This rotary speaker emulator incorporates the acoustic variations that occur when a physical speaker spreads the sound in a room, providing the full experience of when the air is moved around.
The Electro 3's rotary also features a brand new function in the addition of the Rotary Stop Mode. This allows users to switch between fast and stopped rotation and back again by using either the controls on the panel or with a foot pedal connected to the Rotor Pedal input. This is a crucial functionality that mimics the behavior of early one-speed original rotary speaker units.

CD/MP3 player line in - routed to headphones out.

Lighter and slimmer
Production starts November 2008 - specifications subject to change and all that.

I had the Nord Electro rack and loved it. This one sounds like it'll have absolutely everything I'd ever want from an Electro. Sign me up!

03-Dec-08 10:34 AM

Rik Said...

Praise the NORD. They've made a great keyboard even better.

05-Dec-08 06:45 PM

AJ Said...

They going to do a rack of the Electro 3? I don't see it anywhere.

08-Dec-08 09:37 PM

Cole Said...

I play keys and keybass, using the Nord Stage for layered pianos and organs with my right hand. For some reason the manual download for the Electro 3 glitches on my computer. I am wondering if they might have added a layer function to the new Electro. A cute li'l 61-key would definitely enhance my traveling experience, IF I can layer the piano section with the organ section. Perhaps this feature is just too specialized to be of any consequence to most players (I wouldn't think so though), but to me it's vital. Anyone have a clue?

09-Feb-09 04:53 PM

AS Said...

@ Cole I think that's not possible. the NE3 is monotimbral, the only thing is that you are allowed to split the orgel session into two parts of the keyboard, for bass and solo for example. then you have two own orgel registrations. I hope that was helpful.

04-Mar-09 12:14 AM

Benedict Johnson Said...

I bought an 73-key Electro 3 last week. It's taken me a while to come round to this conclusion because it sounded great in the store, and initially sounded great through my Beyerdynamics, but I don't like it. The sad truth is, the sampled instruments (acoustic pianos, electric pianos, clavinets, mellotrons and sample-library instruments) just don't sound realistic enough. They just feel kind of shallow and fake to play.

However, the organ emulations sound amazing, with the rotary speakers on FAST, it sounds better than I could have hoped for.

Maybe I could be accused of expecting expecting software quality instruments from a sample 250MB chip of RAM, but this thing cost Â£1500! Also, I wonder what this machine would be without it's impressive effects section. I'm aware I'm probably in a minority because a lot of reviews really rate the sound quality of this machine. I feel heart broken at having to sell it, but apart from the zero latency and convenience of a single unit, I see no reason not to reproduce it's features with a laptop and midi controller.